Smart phones, tablet computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and other handheld devices, collectively referred to as “user devices”, are increasingly being used for downloading digital multimedia data. For example, movies, music and video games may be downloaded into a user device from a content service provider such as, for example, Amazon.com, Netflix and Best Buy. The content service providers may be accessed over the Internet to download the multimedia data. The downloaded multimedia data may be stored locally in a user device for later use.
Existing multimedia delivery platforms have several drawbacks. Existing delivery platforms provide a minimally controlled delivery network, do not allow automatic concurrent distribution of multimedia data to multiple user devices, and do not allow scheduled transfer of multimedia files to separate physical locations. Also, existing delivery platforms do not allow scheduled access to multimedia files to optimize network availability and to optimize rental and purchase restrictions that may be associated with the files.
Therefore, improved systems and methods are needed.